


Two Girls on a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Band)

by misura



Category: Borderland Series - Terri Windling
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-21
Updated: 2010-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-13 23:25:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/142859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Cam wasn't entirely sure how she and Seal had gotten roped into hosting an impromptu party to celebrate Christmas, Yule, Hannukah, Midwinter and several other official and unofficial holidays.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Girls on a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Band)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sister_coyote](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sister_coyote/gifts).



Cam wasn't entirely sure how she and Seal had gotten roped into hosting an impromptu party to celebrate Christmas, Yule, Hannukah, Midwinter and several other official and unofficial holidays, and four hours into the party, she couldn't say she particularly cared anymore either - although figuring out a way to avoid doing the same next year might be good, she thought.

"Great food!" Fridget said, by some miracle not yet having poked someone's eye out with her hair - or if she had, Cam owed someone a very big 'thank you!' for taking care of it quietly and effectively.

"Thanks." The first dozen times or so, she'd felt compelled to point out that Taash had made the food, but it wasn't like the Hard Luck was hard up for more customers.

"Band's all right, too."

After a moment's consideration, Cam decided that she might be generous and count that as a strike on the scoreboard for Liked the Music Better Than the Food. No point in completely crushing Taash's pride in his music, and she was already winning this particular bet by a landslide anyway.

She forced herself to smile, as befitted a good host, then spotted a gingerbread man trying to sneak belowdecks. "Excuse me."

"Be seeing you," Fridget called after her, helping herself to another one of Taash's creations, blissfully unaware of how lucky she was that one, too, wasn't trying to make a run for it.

Of course, if the thing had actually had brains inside its head instead of dough, it would have headed for the dock instead, or maybe simply jumped overboard. Cam didn't have any idea what effect the river water would have on an animated cookie, and she wasn't particularly keen on finding out.

Luck being what it was, she almost ran into Talley while trying to keep an eye out for more gingerbread escapees. He looked at once embarrassed and happy to see her.

"Cam! Hey! Great party!" No points for either the food or the music. Ah well.

"Thanks." She'd come close to not inviting him. Then again, she'd come close to not inviting _anyone_. The original plan had been for a private celebration, just her and Seal and some good food.

The original plan sounded better all the time.

"Um. You know Chocolate, right?" Talley glanced at the young woman who was playing his love interest in Hector's latest production. Cam hadn't known their romance extended beyond the stage and she rather doubted it would last for very long. She just hoped it would last long enough for Hector to get his _'Pirates of the Carribean'_ on stage the way he wanted it to, complete with the fighting scene with the sounds of cannonfire in the background, as well as the faint smell of gunpowder.

Cam still wasn't convinced adding smell had really been a good idea, but Loris hadn't yet told Hector out loud that it was a bad one, so for the moment, she was working on getting a smell that was 'authentic and yet also easy to recognize'. At least Seal had a good time painting the backgrounds.

"Hey." Nobody seemed to quite know why Chocolate Frog had picked that particular name, but most people who'd met her agreed that it fit her. In the end, that was what mattered, really. "Cool band."

Cam followed Chocolate's gaze. Well. No need to worry about Talley acting like an idiot and hurting someone's feelings, it seemed. Plus, Taash might be cheered up to hear he had an admirer, especially after Cam'd inform him of the numbers on their scoreboard.

She smiled. Chocolate smiled back. Talley looked slightly confused.

"Is that a gingerbread man over there?"

"Gotta go," Cam said.

*

If you ignored the place, the people and the fact that some of the food seemed to have decided it would prefer not to get eaten, the party really was perfectly normal, Seal decided. The kind her mother wouldn't have wanted her to go to, even if Seal was much too smart to do drugs or let anyone put something weird into her drink.

She had no idea where Uncle Paul stood on the matter of parties. She suspected he didn't quite approve of them, just like her mother, because he just didn't _understand_. On the other hand, Talmar had solemnly given them permission to use the boat that was technically still his to host the party when Seal'd asked him, half-convinced he was going to be a typical stuffy adult and refuse.

It had felt like he'd been laughing at her a little, but she'd been too relieved to really mind.

On the improvised stage, Taash enthusiastically launched into a new song. Some people were dancing. Most were just sort of moving to the music while enjoying the food or talking or doing nothing in particular. She spotted Kai and Arden near the stage - Kai talking and gesturing, Arden looking skeptical.

"Great food," someone from the Changeling Theatre told her. Seal thought her name might be Rose, although that might just be the name of her role. It was hard to keep track sometimes.

"He works at the Hard Luck." She nodded at Taash. A good cook, a decent musician and still single. What with him being Cam's oldest friend, it didn't seem right to matchmake. A casual pointing out was all right, though.

No need to mention she'd nagged at him until he'd also made a few gingerbread men just like the ones Mom used to bake, which had promptly run off the moment she'd turned her back on them.

"Ah," possibly Rose nodded. Seal got the nagging feeling her intentions had been seen through.

"He's an old friend of Cam's," she added, feeling slightly defensive.

Maybe Rose smiled at her. "I know."

"Oh."

"Speaking of whom, I believe she may be looking for you." Rose gestured and true enough, Cam appeared to be searching for _someone_ , although Seal wasn't so convinced it was her.

Probably Rose inclined her head as Seal made her excuses and headed for Cam.

"Please tell me we're not sinking." It was a genuine enough concern; there were a /lot/ of people on the boat right now. Seal had no idea what amount of weight it was built to hold normally, but she imagined the fact that some people were dancing probably wouldn't help. "Or taking in water."

Normally, a bit of water wouldn't hurt anyone but in this case, Seal thought it might.

"Have you seen any gingerbread men?" Cam asked with a slight frown. "I think I spotted one."

"I think they're hiding in the bedroom," Seal said. "According to Taash, they'll stop moving at some point tonight, so I thought that when the party's over, we could get some hot chocolate and have a late-night snack."

Cam arched one eyebrow, looking slightly surprised. Seal felt slightly proud at her own matter-of-factness. "Taash actually made hot chocolate for this?"

"Well, he did make something almost completely but not entirely unlike hot chocolate?" Seal tried, hoping for a chuckle at least. "It tastes pretty good."

"Like his 'surprise soup'." Cam sighed.

"I don't think any two people I've talked to described it in the same way," Seal agreed with a grin. "Although they did all agree it tasted good, so that's all right."

Cam grimaced.

"Stop worrying, already, you." Seal reached out, pulled Cam closer in a quick hug. "This is a party. You're supposed to have fun."

"Right now, my idea of fun would be to tell everyone to get off this boat right now and then go to bed."

Back in the place she no longer thought of as home, Seal would have looked around first, checked to make sure nobody was watching them. In the here and now, she leaned forwards and was kissing Cam, simple as that, without any worries about someone seeing.

"No more gingerbread men next year," Cam said when they broke apart for air.

"Deal," Seal said. "Should we tell Taash not to worry when we start telling people they need to leave because the boat is starting to sink in one hour from now?"


End file.
